by Skye Tisdale
“Thank you.” I hugged him tightly. Tears were burning in my eyes, but I refused to let them drip. Axel had done so much for me—but what had I done for him, besides make his life harder? I wouldn’t even be alive right now if it wasn’t for him. how did you thank someone for saving your life? Not with a bouquet of flowers, that was for sure. I sniffled loudly. “Axel, I don’t know how to repay you…”
He laughed and patted my back. “It’s just some canned beans, princess. Not some precious family heirloom.”
“No, for everything.” I stared up into his eyes. “For rescuing me, and for taking care of me, and for teaching me how to stand up for myself… You saved my life, Axel. In so many ways. How am I supposed to make it up to you?”
He wrapped his arms tighter around my body, burying my weepy face against his chest. “You don’t have to make anything up to me, Morgan. Hell, waking up with you was the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time…” He sighed. “You can promise me something, though.”
“Anything,” I told him.
Axel ran his fingers through my hair with a solemn look on his face. “…Don’t forget about me, princess.”
I couldn’t stop the tears from falling anymore. “Never!” I sobbed. “Even when I’m in my 90’s, living in some ratty retirement home somewhere, I’ll still think about you every day.”
“You don’t have to wait that long. I’ll find you before then.”
“Really?” I looked up at him tearfully.
He nodded hesitantly. “…I’ll try my best.”
Axel pulled away from me and slammed the trunk shut, and I used the opportunity to quickly wipe the tears from my cheeks. I looked around at the cabin one last time and felt an emptiness in my chest. I knew I shouldn’t feel so sad. After all, my life was only just about to begin. I could get my own job, and the apartment I’d always dreamed of. Maybe I’d even get a pet or two to keep me company on those lonely days. David hated animals, but David wasn’t here to tell me what I could and could not do anymore.
Yes, I was finally free… But I wasn’t happy.
I sniffled and climbed into the driver’s seat of my car. My fingers trembled as I pulled the door shut and secured the seat belt around my chest. Knowing that I was about to leave everything behind and start over made me feel more terrified than excited. What if I wasn’t cut out to make it on my own?
Axel leaned in through the open window and smiled lightly. “Try to stay out of trouble, princess. I won’t be there to rescue you this time.”
“I’ll try…”
“The cops will help you,” he continued. “A pretty girl like you in need of help…? They’ll be fighting each other tooth and nail just to take your case.”
“And put a big target on my back?” I shuddered as I imagined what David would do to me if he found out I went to the cops. There would be hell to pay… “No, I think I’d rather stay hidden. At least until things blow over.”
“Yeah, that’s what I told myself five years ago, too…” Axel sighed and brought his fist down against the hood of the car in frustration. “God fucking damn it! I can’t believe I’m about to send you off like this, all on your own. There has to be something I can do still.”
I reached up and stroked his bearded cheek. He was so tense. “You’ve already given me everything I need. I couldn’t possibly ask for more.”
“See, that’s the thing.” He squeezed my hand. “You don’t need to ask.”
I smiled sadly before prying my hand out of his grip. I had to let go. The longer I tried to hold on, the harder it would be to put my foot on that gas pedal and drive away.
“All right.” Axel stepped back from the car and smiled at me, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, I guess I better let you go, huh? Before I do something really stupid…”
I scrunched up my face. It was so painful. I tried to force myself to look anywhere else, but my eyes kept wandering back and locking on his. One last kiss, I decided. Just one. Then I’ll leave. Axel must’ve been thinking the same thing, because suddenly he leaned in through the car window and pressed his lips forcefully against mine. I ran my fingers through his thick hair and kissed him hungrily while tears streamed down my cheeks. Oh, how I was going to miss his musky firewood scent, and the way his beard tickled my skin when he held me close…
Why did he have to be so wonderful?
Axel pulled back from our kiss and stepped back from the car for the last time. “Bye now, princess. Stay safe.”
“I will,” I promised in a croaky voice. “Goodbye, Axel…”
And please don’t let it be forever.
I put my foot on the gas pedal and drove off quickly—before I had the chance to change my mind. I knew it was a mistake, but I still looked back in the rear–view mirror to see him one last time. He was watching me leave, growing ever–smaller until I could barely see him anymore. Then there was a curve in the road, and the thick trees obscured my view until I couldn’t see him at all. And then… he was gone.
Just like that.
***
CHAPTER 16
AXEL
I watched Morgan’s car disappear into the trees. My body felt numb, and it wasn’t from the cold. Never again would I get to hear her fruity laugh, run my fingers through her long, thick hair, or watch her cheeks turn bright red whenever I teased her. All those things were nothing but memories now. Beautiful, painful memories…
But my life didn’t come to a sudden standstill just because Morgan was gone. I kept the dog tag and the crumpled–up warning note in my coat pocket, reminding myself that I had to keep going no matter what. My life was at stake. If I didn’t get the hell out of here—and quick—Jennifer would arrive to work on Monday morning and find a frozen body in my place.
I had some money stashed away for emergencies, hidden between the mattress and the frame of the bed. Some of it was left over from selling that gold I got all those years ago, and rest was profits from keeping the bar running. Last time I counted it, it added up to around $47,000—and that was before I snuck a few thousand into Morgan’s coat pocket when she wasn’t looking. Enough for me to start over again. I put it in a bag and shoved it down to the bottom of my duffel bag, between a pair of woolly socks and a box of rifle rounds. Lastly, I grabbed my hunting rifle from the stand above the fireplace. My gut told me I was going to need it…
I made my way out the door, with Phoebe running right at my heels. A part of me wanted to bring him with me, but the road was no place for a cat. Plus, it would break Jennifer’s heart to think he ran away. I couldn’t do that to her. She’d have way bigger things to deal with once she read my note and realized I’d left the whole place to her, anyway…
Phoebe rode shotgun in the shaky passenger seat, standing with his front paws on the frosty window. I remembered the first car ride we took together. It was when I took him to his first vet visit, the day after we found him, He’d been just a kitten then, so small he could almost fit in the palm of my hand… I remembered the way the milk would dribble down his chin when he fought my fingers for the bottle.
“I’m sure you’ll be all right without me, buddy.” I smiled sadly and ran my fingers through his fur. “Just a shame I won’t get to watch you grow old…”
I kept my eyes on the road. The deep tire tracks in the snow told me that Morgan had come through this way—which I already knew she must have, because there was no other way to the main road. It wasn’t until we reached the bar that her tracks turned right, and I turned left. I parked by the entrance and heaved myself out of the car, trying to ignore the lump in my throat. Phoebe followed close behind, jumping between my footsteps in the deep snow.
A car door slammed, startling me as I was fumbling with the keys to the back door of the bar. The keys slipped through my fingers. I looked up and saw a car parked in the opposite side of the lot, far away enough that I hadn’t seen it when I pulled in. The color was similar to that of Morgan’s car, and I briefly convinced mys
elf that it really was her; that she’d decided not to leave after all… But, of course, that wasn’t the case. At closer inspection, the cars looked nothing alike. Morgan drove a rusty fixer–upper, but this was a new Subaru with tinted windows.
I clenched my fists angrily and shook my head. “Get it the fuck together, Axel…”
I bent down to pick up my dropped keys. As I was doing that, the driver–side door of the Subaru swung open and a man stepped outside. I glanced at him briefly, uninterested. He was so big that the car seemed to shrink beside him. Even though I was 6’3 myself, he looked a full head taller than me, and absolutely packed to the brim with muscle. As the cherry on top, he was dressed all in black. People tended to pass through the bar when they visited the mountain, but I never once met a man like him before—I was certain, because I would’ve remembered that. No, this guy was an outsider… And in my experience, outsiders meant trouble.
The man started trudging over to me.
“Bar’s closed!” I called out impatiently. I didn’t have time for this. I had my own shit to deal with.
“Good thing I’m not here to drink,” the man called back in a bellowing voice. He sounded almost… sly. He stopped a short distance away, just close enough for me to see the frosty tips in his moustache. His face was flushed red from the cold. “I’ve a couple of questions—and I think you’ve got the answers.”
“I don’t have time for questions.” I sneered and pushed the door open. Phoebe leapt inside and shook himself off on the welcome mat. I went inside after him and went to pull the door close—only for the burly man to stick his foot out to prevent the door from closing.
“You don’t look like a busy guy to me,” he said in a low voice. “I think you can spare five minutes.”
I looked up and met his dark eyes. I didn’t know who the hell he was, but all my alarm bells were ringing. I had half a mind to run outside and grab my hunting rifle, but I didn’t want to waste my limited ammo. Plus, he was standing between me and the truck, and I risked getting myself shot if he was carrying something too… Perhaps the easiest way to get rid of him was to simply answer his questions. Then, I could be on my way.
“What do you want?” I asked curtly.
“I’m glad you asked!” The man grinned and pulled a folded, printed photo from his pocket. “I’m looking for a woman who may have come through here. About 5’5 tall, long brown hair, pale as a ghost… Why don’t you have a look for yourself? And let me tell you now: it’s extremely important that I find her.”
He held the photo out in front of me. In it, a young woman wearing a navy–blue graduation gown smiled shyly for the camera. Around her neck was a silver cross necklace… Morgan’s necklace. I swallowed hard. Why did he have her photo? He didn’t exactly look the Christian type, so I quickly ruled out the idea of him being that fiancé of hers. But I remembered her telling me she’d seen another guy: a big, burly one who supposedly looked like he wanted to kill her. This guy fit the description for sure…
But what were the chances of him coincidentally tracking down the only person who’d seen Morgan since she ran away? No fucking way. I didn’t believe that for one second. He knew I was involved somehow, and he must’ve been sitting here all morning, just waiting for me to show up…
Suddenly, it dawned on me that Morgan had driven past here already, which meant that he would’ve seen her first. That meant… Fuck. Did they get to her already? Was she currently tied up in the back of some car, screaming hopelessly into a gag? Or… Was she already dead, and this was them coming back to finish me off?
I shook my head stiffly. “Never seen the girl before in my life.”
“Is that so?” The man glanced around. “I see you’ve got a key. You’re the owner of this bar, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “And what if I am?”
He chuckled. “Well, it just so happens that the girl made a phone call yesterday morning, and we traced it to this exact location. So, we know for a fact that she was inside your bar, but you’re saying you never saw her! Strange, isn’t it…?” He cocked his head. “She somehow managed to enter the building to make a phone call—all without breaking a single window. Now, I think somebody opened that door and let her in—somebody with a key—but maybe there’s another explanation… If so, I’d very much like to hear it.”
That’s how they knew: they traced the call. I knew the bug wasn’t on my end, which meant somebody had planted it on Morgan’s mother’s phone. It wouldn’t have been hard for David to enter their home and do it without them knowing. Hell, maybe he did tell them, and they agreed thought it was “for her own good.” Either way, I never should’ve let her made that call. I was the one who pushed her to do it in the first place, which meant this was all my fault…
I had to fix this.
I put on a smile. “I guess I must’ve left the front door open! Happens all the time, if I’m being completely honest. In a small town like this, there’s barely any crime, so it’s easy to forget.” I chuckled lightly and glanced around, searching for something that could be used as a weapon. My eyes fell on a jagged rock sticking out through the snow at my feet. Not my first choice, but it would have to do. “Wish I could be of more help in finding that girl, but like I said: I never even saw her.”
“I see.” The man hummed. “Then I suppose you have no idea where she’s gone either?”
“Afraid so. I sure hope she’ll be all right.”
“You and me both…” The man sighed and walked back to his car. Instead of getting into the driver’s seat, he opened the trunk and pulled out a rusty tire iron. It glistened faintly in the sun as he straightened his back and looked back at me with disdain. “I told you it was important,” he spat and shook his head angrily. “I told you, but you refused to listen! Now you leave me no choice. I’m not supposed to let anybody get in my way—but in my way is exactly where you are.”
He lunged at me, swinging that rusty tire iron above his head like it was a great sword. I felt the gust of wind against my temple as I dove to the side and wrapped my hand around the frozen rock I’d seen sticking out of the snow earlier. Its sharp, jagged edges dug into my skin and filled my palm with blood, but I was so numb I could barely feel it. Tumbling to the ground, I rolled once in the wet snow before finally managing to steady myself. Swiftly, I got to my feet.
I didn’t waste any time. I raised my hand, aimed, and flung the rock towards the man’s forehead. He ducked, but not quickly enough. The sharp rock grazed the side of his head, tearing a row of nasty, red gashes into his scalp. Blood dripped down his face and into his eyes. He grunted angrily and wiped it away with dirty fingers.
“That was a mistake,” he snarled. “I’m going to break every bone in your body, you fucking shrimp!”
My heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear myself think. The man lunged at me again, and this time I stepped to the side, causing him to stumble towards the window and nearly turning himself into a glass shard porcupine. He regained his balance in the last second. I licked my lips. The man was bigger and stronger than me, but that wasn’t necessarily to my disadvantage. It made him slow and clumsy; vulnerable to sudden attacks. That didn’t seem to stop him from trying, though.
He charged at me for the third time. This time, I didn’t dodge. I held my ground and drove my shoulder into the man’s chest with as much power as I could muster, forcing the air out of his lungs. He stumbled and gasped for air while tripping over his own feet. There was a loud, awful cracking noise as the back of his head made contact with the hard ground. The tire iron fell out of his hand, and I grabbed it.
I stood over him, looking down into his pained eyes. I’d caused that pain, and I took no pleasure in it… All I felt was relief that it was finally over.
“Don’t just stand there and stare at me!” the man spat. “Kill me! Go on, do it!”
I tightened my grip around the tire iron. “…You won’t die here tonight.”
“I see… You’re going to t
orture me first,” the man swallowed as fear flickered in his eyes. “Well then, get on with it. Do your best. Just let me die afterwards.”
“No,” I said. “I’m not going to kill you.”
“And why not?” the man snarled angrily. “You think you’re too honorable to kill me? Fuck you! I’m fucking dying already, and there’s nothing honorable about letting a man bleed to death like a fucking cripple. Kill me, you fucking coward!”
I ignored his pleas. “Why are you after her?” I demanded.
“Fuck you!” He spat bloody saliva on my feet.
Seeing red, I put my foot over his hand and pressed down until I felt crunching beneath my sole. The man wailed. It was painful as hell, but it wasn’t going to cause any long–term damage. But the things they’d do to Morgan if they got to her before I did…
“Fine, fine, I’ll tell you!” he howled. He pulled his hand back, clutching it protectively against his chest. “You fucking prick…”
“Start talking.“ I hissed. “Now.“
The man hesitated briefly. “There was this guy… I don’t know what the fuck his name was, but he needed money, just like the rest of them. Said something about a wedding. Boss decided to give him a loan, but when the time came to repay it, he claimed he couldn’t afford it.”
“How big was the loan?” I asked.
“Probably around $30,000 after interest. Anyway, when people can’t pay, that’s when I come in. Whenever there’s a problem, Boss sends me to deal with it. In this case, I decided to accept a trade. Some things are more valuable than money, you see… Even to Boss.”
“What was the deal?” I asked in a low voice.
“That he would pay in kind. Or rather, that she would pay in kind.” The man laughed darkly. “I’ve heard men offer before, but never so quickly. It’s almost like that was his plan all along.”
“And you’re fine with that?” I asked hoarsely. “Selling women’s bodies?”